Elaina Eakle
ehe001@marietta.edu
The Office for Diversity and Inclusion’s second diversity dialogue, Black Lives Matter: The Power of the Student Voice, sparked discussion about the power of students on Marietta College’s campus.
The dialogue, which was held on Nov. 18, covered several past student protests, but the primary focus was on the student protests at the University of Missouri. A series of racially-charged incidents at the university led to multiple student protests, including a group of protesters who blocked the president’s car during the homecoming parade, a hunger strike by a graduate student, and a threatened boycott by the football team if the president of the university did not resign.
The protests culminated in the resignation of the university’s president, Tim Wolfe, and ignited nation-wide protests and discussions about continuing racism on college campuses.
DeJuan Mitchell, coordinator for diversity and inclusion at Marietta College, suggested that the focus was not on racial issues when legislators called for Wolfe’s resignation, but on the money the college would lose due to the football players’ boycott.
“He wasn’t going to step down because the black students and the minority students and students who were allies with them wanted him to,” he said. “He stepped down because the money said, ‘you’ve got to go.’”
The incidents in Missouri led to numerous student protests demanding that colleges address racial discrimination. A group of Marietta College students expressed their support for the students in Missouri with a solidarity photo taken on Nov. 20. (Read more on the solidarity photo here: https://www.marcolian.com/?p=710)
Though students want to have their voices heard, several students at the dialogue explained the challenges they face in speaking out on Marietta’s campus.
“Last year we did do a protest and a sit-in, we had a banner, and we chalked the mall, which was really empowering to me, but I think the hard part about that was this campus was not receptive at all to that,” senior Brittany Waugaman said. “We were pretty strongly harassed.”
Waugaman believes that the small size of Marietta’s campus makes it difficult for students to freely express their opinions.
“We’re such a small school, so you know everyone,” she said. “So when people say, ‘Oh, he’s a thug,’ you know that person, so it’s not just going to be like, ‘Oh, I’m going to tell him how it is and walk away and we’re never going to see each other again,’ it’s like, ‘I’ll probably see him tomorrow in class.”
Sophomore Sydney Willis believes that the small campus size should not limit student expression regarding racial issues.
“Even though we’re on a small campus, we can come together to support nationwide protests and events that are going on and show our support,” she said. “That way, we can educate more people on this campus and really show that we actually do have a voice here.”
Senior and Student Body President Kennedy Clyde agrees that it is important for MC students to speak out, but also noted challenges they face in doing so.
“I do realize that if I project a message that even though I fully embody, sometimes I do realize that I’m ostracizing another group and that might make them feel disconnected to the Marietta College community,” she said.
Despite this concern, Clyde stated that it is important to show support for other students, even if not all students agree.
“Something I’ve projected to [the Student Government Association] is that we need to represent the community and show support even if it’s just by showing up,” she said.
Students at the dialogue agreed that the renewed focus on the Black Lives Matter movement as a result of the protests is a positive change.
Clyde argued that this movement should matter to all students, not just those facing racial discrimination.
“I think it’s important that there is a movement,” she said. “It’s an important conversation for students and the world to have, to see where they’re at with race and where they fit, and how they need to challenge themselves to be more inclusive.”
Several students felt as though the need for the Black Lives Matter movement is emphasized by the “all lives matter” response.
“I do get angry and upset when I hear people say [all lives matter] because for much of human history, people have oppressed black people and said, ‘You don’t matter,’” Waugaman said. “The one time black people try to turn around and say, ‘yeah, we do matter; yeah, we are important,” then it’s like an insult to other people.”
Despite the backlash, there is growing support behind the movement.
“In this case, it is about black people; it is about us,” Willis said. “From my perspective, it’s about me being able to say that I do matter in society.”
The changes that resulted from the past protests encouraged hope among the discussion participants that change can be made in the future.
“College students also have a voice,” Mitchell said. “And it is shown in all of these protests.”
The Office for Diversity and Inclusion’s third diversity dialogue will be held on Jan. 13, and will include a film screening and discussion in collaboration with the Alliance. Dialogues are also scheduled for Feb. 10, March 23, and April 6.
